I02 



The Golden-winged Woodpecker. 



any one nest were reported by Mrs. Violet 

 S. Williams, of Coralville, Iowa, who says 

 in a note to Forest and Stream : " A col- 

 lector of this place has thirty-five eggs 

 which he obtained from a single nest of a 

 Golden-winged Woodpecker, while another 

 collector obtained ten from the same nest, 

 making a total of forty-five eggs from a 

 single bird in one season. I will copy his 

 notes, as it may interest some of your 

 readers: 'May 13, 1884, found nest and 

 obtained six eggs; to-day, May 17, took 3; 

 May 23, 6; May 28, i; June 2, 5; June 9, 

 3; June 13, 4; June 19, 2; June 26, 5.' " 



Scarcely less remarkable is a case reported 

 in the same journal, of the finding by Mr. 

 Stewart Ogilby of a nest of this species 

 which contained nineteen young ones, alive 

 and in good condition. 



When the young ones are pretty well 

 grown they often scramble up to the mouth 

 of the hole and even out on the tree and 

 the branches near at hand. From these 

 perches they watch for the approach of 

 their parents as they return with food, 

 saluting them, as they draw near, with shrill 

 cries of welcome and entreaty. 



The food of the " yellow-hammer " is chief- 

 ly insects. They devour great numbers of 

 those species which infest our forest trees, 

 but do not depend wholly on these for 

 food. They spend more time on the ground 

 than do most of our woodpeckers, devour- 

 ing great numbers of ants, and even digging 

 industriously in the ground for those crea- 

 tures which live just beneath the surface. 

 Often their bills are incrusted with earth to 

 the nostrils, showing how energetically they 

 have been at work among the grass roots. 

 But although their food is principally in- 

 sects, they live to some extent on fruit. 

 In the late summer they frequent the choke- 

 cherry trees, and in the autumn, when the 

 dogwood berries are ripe, the trees which 

 bear them are favorite stopping places for 

 the migrating "high-holes," and on these 

 berries they feed very amiably with the 



robins, cedar birds and other species that 

 frequent them. They eat the fox grapes 

 too, and the berries of the blue gum and 

 of the cedar. They are credited, also, with" 

 sometimes attacking the corn when it is " in 

 the milk," and tearing open the tops of the 

 husks, but we have never known of their 

 doing this. On the whole they are useful 

 birds, and do little or no harm. They 

 should never be destroyed. 



Its great abundance and its striking colors 

 have made the Golden-winged Woodpecker 

 a favorite ornament for hats, but it is to be 

 hoped that the depraved taste which sanc- 

 tioned this barbaric style of ornamentation 

 has become a thing of the past. 



The Golden-winged Woodpecker is 

 about twelve inches in length and twenty 

 in spread of wings. The bill is long and 

 slightly arched. The feet are different 

 from those of most birds, having two toes 

 before and two behind. The upper part of 

 the head and neck are light purplish-gray, 

 a transverse band of scarlet passes about 

 the back of the head. The upper parts are 

 greenish-brown barred with black. There 

 is a tuft of white feathers at the root 

 of the tail. The tail coverts are white, 

 spotted with black ; quills of the wing and 

 tail black ; their shafts orange. Sides of 

 head and neck are cinnamon color, tinged 

 with gray. There is a black streak on 

 either side of the throat, and a crescent 

 of the same color on upper, breast. The 

 lower breast and body are yellowish-white, 

 each feather with a circular spot of blacky 

 The under sides of the wings and tail are 

 golden yellow. Bill brown above and light 

 blue beneath. The iris brown. The female 

 differs from the male in being slightly 

 smaller and in having the breast crescent 

 smaller and less distinctly marked, and in 

 lacking the black patches on the sides of 

 the throat. 



The illustration, reproduced from Audu- 

 bon's plate, represents a family of Golden- 

 winged Woodpeckers on an old dead tree. 



